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Will Senate’s healthcare failure open the door to bipartisanship?
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationA week ago, the Republican Party's efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act came to a crashing halt when two key Senators refused to back the repeal-and-replace plan. But in Washington, D.C., the GOP's efforts to end Obamacare — due in part to its insurance mandates, prices and taxes — continue.
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Senate healthcare bill crashes as procedural votes vanish
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationCrash goes Senate Republicans' seven-year mission to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Just ask Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," McConnell said in a prepared statement.
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Change may not be easy in healthcare, but it is possible
Joan Spitrey Healthcare AdministrationHealthcare is one of the most dynamic industries. Not only are new discoveries, modalities, equipment or medications being introduced at a rapid pace, but the unpredictability of taking care of humans and their uniqueness also creates an extra challenge.
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Report details first 6 months of California’s End of Life Option…
Christina Thielst Medical & Allied HealthcareThe California Department of Public Health released its report detailing usage information during the first half-year of the End of Life Option Act's implementation. The law — Health and Safety Code section 443.19 (b) — gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live the option to request a doctor's prescription for medication they can decide to take to die peacefully in their sleep if their end-of-life suffering becomes unbearable.
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FDA strikes back against opioid abuse with Opana ER decision
Dr. Abimbola Farinde PharmaceuticalThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added another drug to its growing list of medications that have been removed from the market due to concerns over risk outweighing the clinical benefit of the drug. Typically, drugs are pulled because of harmful side effects, but Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride) is the first drug to be recognized by the FDA as causing harm related to the potential for abuse and addiction. This was largely the result of the increasingly prevalence of the opioid epidemic in America.
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Is doodling good for your brain?
Dorothy L. Tengler Science & TechnologyArt therapy — often used in combination with traditional psychotherapeutic theories and techniques — has been touted as a way for us to connect with our creative selves. Now, research has gone a step further, suggesting that art therapy in the form of creative doodling helps people stay focused, grasp new ideas and even retain information.
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BCRA support falters: GOP governors, insurers and public oppose bill
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationBacking for the Better Care and Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Republicans' version to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, is faltering. In one sign of party disunity, President Donald Trump recently tweeted a "repeal then replace" Obamacare message that Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quickly dismissed.
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Early lessons from California right‑to‑die law
Joan Spitrey Medical & Allied HealthcareJust over a year after California enacted the End of Life Option Act, preliminary reports released by the Department of Public Health show 111 Californians took a lethal prescription to end their life in the first six months of the new law. Modeled closely after the Oregon law that was enacted almost two decades ago, California became the fifth state to allow patients with less than six months to live to request medication to assist in ending their lives. Currently, doctor-assisted death is legal in Montana, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
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How would BCRA impact jobs in healthcare?
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationA week ago, the Senate unveiled their version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that the House passed — the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BRCA). Since then, several Republican Senators have said they would not vote for the bill in its current form, which forced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to delay a vote on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal until after the July 4 recess.
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Possible link between marijuana use in young people and schizophrenia
Dorothy L. Tengler Mental HealthcareMarijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. — for the population overall and for youths in particular. Based on 2013-2014 data, 7.22 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years across the nation had used marijuana in the past month. Of adults 26 or older who used marijuana before age 15, 62 percent then went on to use cocaine at some point in their lives, and 9 percent eventually used heroin at least once.
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